I've heard a lot of descriptions regarding windshields, but never this one before. That's funny. oser

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Well I think this problem was caused by low pressure which occured with some settings of the shield (not all!). The low-pressure seemed to pull the air out of my helmet when visor open. Excuse this clumsy explanation - English is not my mother tongue...

Anyway, you've described all but the most important thing about yourself: your height. You're "inseam" has little to do with your helmet height while sitting. Unless you meant you were standing on the pegs.
So, how tall are you? What seat are you sitting on....stock high or low, or something custom? I have similar weight and inseam, but am 5'9" tall, on a Renazco modified seat that is actually 1/2" taller than stock high.

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As I wrote my height is 181 cm. Don't know what exacly this is in English measurements (something about 6'?). My Seat is a little bit higher than stock I think (maybe about 2 cm).

I have experienced none of the problems with the D3 which you have described. At least not, while wearing either of my Shoei helmets (RF1000 & Hornet). The D3 has been absolutely fantastic for me in any of the elevated positions beyond half way up.....whether tilted forward or aft.

Maybe its that Schuberth helmet that is causing the suffocation. Think I'll steer clear of those based on your description.

I am banged up with a broken collar bone from a MTB training run crash during my prep for the APC rally in August. So in the interests of doing something useful towards the rally prep over Easter I have designed a new dashboard. Both our F658's have a Touratech dash back with the Desierto III fairings which allowed me to mount the necessary charge outlets and stuff, but it was always a bit of a mess and constantly annoyed me.

So the CAD work is almost done for the new one. Hopefully next week I can send it to the laser cutters. After that if everything fits as it should I am going to anodize them as the powder coating on the Touratech one is a crap idea. Controls are LH: UHF radio, Burns Moto USB, Powerlet 12v outlet and RHS: Burns Moto ABS disable circuit, main headlight on/off (for when we travel where it is rude to have the HL on all the time during the day) and Clearwater spots on/off and dimmer. The space top RHS is for a future use perhaps a heated vest controller. The outline is a neat fit inside the DIII fairing, I hope TT make them all from a similar mould or it won't fit as I have made it quite a neat fit, took lots of suck-it-and-see CAD to get it right as the shape must have been originally made by a pattern maker using hand carving techniques, not a bad way of doing it but it does result in same rather "unique" shapes.

I'm also building version 3 of my custom screen for the Desierto III, the first couple were designed and built a year ago in a hurry before we shipped the bikes to New Zealand for a month of South Island play, and then had to do the job again last Christmas for the North Island because last year was a tad busy, but they don't perform that well in the rain, so I have hatched a plan for a new shape. The mould is done and I am in the process of learning how to vacuum form clear acrylic, the current ones were drape moulded and the new shape is too complicated for that process to work - pics to come when i'm a bit forther down the track.

In the pic below you can see the outline of the Touratech one for refernce
Here is what the Touratech POS looks like - very poor quality powder coating, not to mention the sloppy fit. On the LHS you can see the original UHF mount I made, it worked just fine, but not "just" right and I am a bit of a perfectionist, so a new one is needed.

And here is what the current custom screens look like - on the Nevis Track South Island in New Zealand, 27 river crossings in 5 hours what a blast!

I've tested out the Desierto now on some longer rides, some offroad only rides, some road rides and mixed, and I'm of two minds about it.

I certainly love how it looks, it really finishes off the look of the bike. It provides pretty good wind protection but with some things I have noticed are a problem for me being 186cm tall.

1) Having the screen in its highest and full forward position creates a weird buffeting effect that if I wear a road helmet and have the visor open, the visor catches the wind and vibrates. It doesnt even need to be open all the way, but it shakes and vibrates and carries on. It's bloody annoying.

2) The screen provides great wind protection though I have to hunch a little bit to actually stay in the clean air, otherwise I'm in this weird zone between direct flow and nice wind protection and it makes my head wobble around. This is surprisingly not as bad wearing a dirt bike helmet because you can direct your head down a bit and i think the wind just slices over the top of the peak, and then you're sweet.

3) It shakes and wobbles so much! I've got it all tightened up and it's installed correctly, but the amount it appears to move around when offroad freaks me out. I know it's fine but I still get irked about that.

4) Boy do the adjustable screen bolts love to come loose. Ride offroad or on corrugated roads and they come loose so quickly it's not funny. you can make this not as noticeble by locking it in the bottom lowest position and it doesnt come as loose as easy. What things have people done to solve this? I love the adjustability but I wish I wouldn't have to stress about them rattling loose all the time.

All in all though it's stupidly expensive but I do really like it. Looks and function are right up there, but I'm just a touch too tall for its effective wind protection area I think, and that is a shame. I'm going to test with different screen positions as I think that I may be able to find one where I cop a bit more wind but it's "cleaner" air.... and see how I go. Two thumbs up from me though for the desierto but that may just be me trying desperately to justify my purchase

I like the desierto 3 fairing but have a reoccurring problem. Twice on washboard gravel roads I have had one of the white plastic thumb nuts with their bolt rattle off. I have been lucky enough both times to go back up the road and find the parts. Has anyone else had this issue? I feel like I am tightening them enough. I have been thinking of putting an o-ring as a washer on the bolt to get pinched by the plastic nut to help keep it from vibrating off. Ideas?

That's the same problem I'm having. The nuts that hold the windscreen on vibrate themselves loose very quickly.

I thought about using a spring washer or even an o-ring as you suggested to provide some sort of force against it, hopefully tensioning the nut so that it will not just vibrate loose.

Either that or I'll just have to replace them with nylock nuts and be done with it, and just use a tool to adjust my windscreen. I really didn't want to do that but if it's what I have to do to stop it from undoing itself, so be it...

TT must know about the shield adjustment problem as our DIII's came with a nylock nut and a small laser cut spanner with a bottle opener on the other end as well as the plastic nuts. The instructions also said quite clearly that if you use the bike on rough roads the plastic ones will vibrate out and to use the nylock ones.

TT must know about the shield adjustment problem as our DIII's came with a nylock nut and a small laser cut spanner with a bottle opener on the other end as well as the plastic nuts. The instructions also said quite clearly that if you use the bike on rough roads the plastic ones will vibrate out and to use the nylock ones.

Our experience has confirmed this.

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Well don't I feel like a right idiot now! You are correct, my kit came with the same small laser cut spanner and nylock nuts as well. It didn't even click in my head that they were there for an alternative to the plastic nuts and I missed the mention of this in the instructions.

a wrench and nylocks are not the most convenient means of adjustment. :huh I typically have ridden with the screen up on the highway while transiting to a dirt road pass that is the highlight of my trip. On the dirt / gravel I like the screen all the way down so that I am not looking through the screen while sitting.

I will look for wingnuts with more leverage with the addition of an o-ring or springs to maintain nut to bolt thread engagement.

Forgive my potential ignorance here, but doesn't that make it difficult for you to adjust the screen?

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No worries.......... The screws protrude through the sliding bracket, and terminates with a nut.... The whole assy slides up and down. The loctite holds the nut in place, on the bolt, preventing the whole thing from vibrating appart.

I had a machine shop spin up 6 x Spare Nuts made out of Aluminium.
I have used them the last 2 x years over very rough conditions and they have never came loose. Still have my spares somewhere.:huh
Cost me about $20 I think

I seriously considering purchase of D3 for my bike. Have tried the Touratech spoiler on standard screen but it does not work for me. It shifts all the air to the top part of the helmet providing buffering and very strange noise (waves of air are hitting the helmet and making this vibrating noiseeee - very irritating one).

So I started to think about D3 as it seems to provide a good flexible option for both long runs on regular roads and offroad rides. After reading this thread I am sure that it would be fine on offroad. I know from other posts on ADV that the best protection for touring is a big screen which protects you from rain, cold, air etc but ... I like to end many of my trips on offroad tracks.

So my question to some of you who have used D3 for a while is how it works on long highway runs especially with the reduction of air noise / pressure issue, rain, cold? It looks like the high of the rider is one of key issue (crossplane thank you for feedback). Since D3 is not a chip option I would not like to end with the same strange noise inside my helmet - but now a much more expensive one.

I am a fairly new user but struggled terribly with the oem and cut down oem for 3500 miles and bit the bullet on the Desierto. Overall I like it a lot but was so used to the cut down shields that it is visually cumbersome from the seat just yet with about 1000 miles with it.
Realizing you are looking for long time users my thoughts may not be pertinent but I am basically the same body characteristics as you listed.
If not for the wind wearing me down with my XD-3 and working me so hard on the typical 250 mile ride to trail I would have been fine with the cut down shield. That being said this Desierto has made riding to the trail a pleasure again.
I leave it in the lowest setting with a slight tilt forward and it works real well. Wind and rain protection is completely satisfactory and it really is out of the way with the trail riding positions while standing forward.The wind noise has been noticeably reduced (always with the shield up on the xd) and no need for Advil to alleviate a sore neck after a full couple days riding.
Pricey but effective is my opinion.
If I didnt have a 12GS as well I may not even have realized that the 800 falls short with wind protection but the bike is too much fun to give up on just for the cost of a rider appropriate shield.
Good Luck.

Seasider very useful comments especially if we both have the same body characteristic. I want to improve the long rides comfort and have this nice flexibility of f800 if the asphalt ends suddenly... D3 seems to be solution. The noise for me is also a riding safety issue as it affects the driver concentration after some time of riding. The cost is an issue as well but if I plan to use the bike for long time .... Thank you for your comments. Me starting negotiating with Santa...

So far I love it. Reduces all wind hitting my head/helmet and now I can turn my head without feeling like my helmet is gonna launch off like a parachute is attached to it.

Not as good as the cee&baileys I had for my 1150GS, but that's a whole different bike/setup. But it is definitely a huge improvement and I feel like I could do some serious miles without being annoyed. With the stock screen I was getting fatigued and annoyed after 15 minutes on the road. Plus, going off road is a simple adjustment to lower it.... And it looks great, which is a plus

I do not like the plastic parts they supplied. I switched out the plastic knobs that tighten the screen down with metal wing nuts(should be easier to loosen, especially with gloves on) and am in the process of replacing the plastic knobs that connect the windscreen to the bracket with some metal cap bolts. One of the plastic caps stripped out and they were all loose after some off-road riding. I think metal ones will hold much much better.

I do not like the plastic parts they supplied. I switched out the plastic knobs that tighten the screen down with metal wing nuts(should be easier to loosen, especially with gloves on) and am in the process of replacing the plastic knobs that connect the windscreen to the bracket with some metal cap bolts. One of the plastic caps stripped out and they were all loose after some off-road riding. I think metal ones will hold much much better.